Do no harm

[A440A@AOL.COM]

<<I tuned a 35 year old Steinway M yesterday that had this greenish-blue

growth on five or six of  the agraffes    If I would have had my protek with 
me  I would have lubricated the area. Was that a good

idea?  

   I don't think it would have made a big difference, it seems to have far 
more effect on the underfelt of the middle section.

>>Was that stuff verdigris? (I thought it only grew on action centers).

       Yes,  and you may find it on the keyblock plates, too. 


>>Is this a common  occurrence? 

      Not on agraffes, I think something was spilled on them, feeding a 
chemical reaction,    
  
>>Will that stuff clog the agraffe holes again and cause a call-back?    What 
should I have done?>>

    I think you did no harm,  but a slicker approach has me thinking of a 
small bronze brush, with the hose of a small vaccuum cleaner right there, so 
that you could take the mess away from the string holes, the agraffe, the 
piano, and ultimately, the house;  but functionally, you made it work without 
doing any harm.  Some string movement, within limits, could just about clean 
the mating surfaces, and a Q-tip with some lacquer thinner or acetone to 
flush the rest of the verdigris out would have, I think, ended the problem.  
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT